James huber



1. HUBER. l AUTOMATIC RRARE FoR suRMARlNE MINE ARcRoR cALE nRuMs.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 3.19I7. 1,3 14,659, f Patented Sept. 2, 1919.

N 'N R JWM narran sfia'rns Parana? onnioii.

JAMES HUBER, OF PHILADELPHIA,PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO VICKERS LIMITED,

0F WESTMIN'STER, ENGLAND.

Y VAU'.lOlVlA'JIG BRAKE FOR SUBMARINE-MINE-ANCHOR CABLE-DRUMS.

T0 all whom t may concern Be it known that I, JAMES HUBER, a citizen ofSwitzerland, a resident of thecity of Philadelphia, county ofPhiladelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain newanduseful Improvements in Automatic Brakes for Submarine-Mine-AnchorCable-Drums; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable-othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an automatic brakeY for submarine mine anchorcable drums.

l/Vhen a submarine mine'is launched from a vessel going` at high speed,it will be carried into the wash of the propeller and unless some meansis provided forcontrolling the rotation of the cable drum, the cablewill overrun itself and a snarling of the cable will result. y

It is an object of the present invention to provide means for preventingYthe overrunning of theI cable and the consequent snarling of the same,especially when the mine is launched from-a vessel going at high speed.

It is a further object of the invention-to provide means-whichwillcontrol the paying out of the cable as the anchor descends in thewater. l l y These results are brought about broadly by providing meanswhich will retard the rotation of the cabler drum with a forceproportional to the force which tends to rotate the drum. 1

I have illustrated in the drawing one embodiment of the invention which,however, may be-modiied to a considerable extent and still produce theresults above set forth.

'Figure ljis a fragmental sectional view of a submarine mine,illustratingthe invention applied to the mine anchor.V

Fig. 2 is a fragmental elevationlooking at the ends of the brake arms,and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail of the end of one of the brake arms and aportion of the brake drum.

in die drawing ai@ mine is indicated by the reference character 1, withwhich the mine anchor 2 is associated. This anchor includes the usualmooring cable drum 3 from which the mooring cable L extends. It is, ofcourse, to be understood that, as the anchor moves away from the mine,the

Specication'of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 2, 1919.

applicati@ flied october 3, 1917.v serial irdfieaase.

mooring cableunwinds from thev cable drum 8, but the force whichtendsto'rotate the cable drum naturally varies as the cable pays out from thesame. For instance, when the drum contains three hundred feet of cable,the distance. from the point where the cable begins to unwind to the4center of. the drum spindle is a predetermined amount. However, as the'cable pays out from the drum this distance is gradually reduced andconsequently the leverage is reduced. As the cable unwinds from the drumthe tendency of the drum will be to rotate at a greater rate of speed,obviously.

The end of the drum spindle 5 is provided with flat faces, as'at 6, andpivoted to vthis end by suitable means, such as a bolt 7 is a pair ofbrake arms 8. The number of these .brake arms is not important as theymaybe increased or decreased at will. The pivot of these arms extendstransversely of the axis of rotation of the cable drum, so that upon therotation of the cable drum the ends of the arms tends to move outwardlyunder the action of the centrifugal force developed and against theaction of the spring, later described, so that the latte-r graduallyloses its effectiveness.

y They ends ,gf these arms are somewhat enlarged to form, what I willterm, brake shoes, the faces 10` and 11 of which converge, asillustratedin Fig. 3 of the drawing. These arme are normally pulled together bysuitable means, such as a spring 12, which is attached to eyes 13 onthearms sol that the faces 10 and 11 of the shoe portions of the armsengage correspondingly shaped faces 14: and 15 on a brake drum 16. This'brake drum is secured to the side of the mine anchor in the embodimentillustrated, is circular in form and has its center arranged in axialalinement with the spindle V5, so'that upon the rotation of the cabledrinn and the consequent rotation of .the brake arms 5, the faces 10 and11 will continuously contact with the faces 14 and 15 of the brake drumuntil the speed of rotation is such as to move the arms outwardly. It isto be understood that it is contemplated that the brake drum may besecured to the anchor in various other locations and the brake arms maybe associated with the cable drum iii various other relations, theimportant requirement being that the brake drum be stationary withrelation to the cable drum and that the brake arms rotate with the cabledrum. The face 11 of each of the shoes 9 is flat, `is `'also thecorresponding face 15 of the brake drum 16. The face y10 of each :of theyshoes 9 is, however, curved, as illustrated in Fig. 3, the center ofcurvature being the centerof the pivot 7 of the brake arms 8. The facel14 of the brake drum isf'likewise-curved and the center of curvature isthe center of the aforesaid pivot 7. It will 'thus kbe seen that theconcave face of each of the shoes 9 engages the corresponding convexvface 14 of the brake drum,'thus when the arms 8 move outwardly Aagainstthe action of the spring 12, the shoes will remain in contact withtheface 14. Y y

In order that vtherefmay `be no jamming of the brake shoes 9 so as toprevent vthe perfect contact ofthe :faces of the shoes-and the faces ofthe drum,'the drum is *provided with an'annular recess v17 which isformed centrally ofthe drum so that the apeX of each of the shoes'willextend into the same.

Vhen-the cable begins to pay out from'the drum, the greatest leverage ispresent and at this time the shoes are in engagement with the faces-ofthe brake drum, and the springlQ exerts its greatest forceonithe arms 8.As the leverage decreas'es,`the speed'of rotation of the cable drumincreases andthe arms 8 move outwardly under the action ofthecentrifugal force developed againstthe'tension of the spring 12, so theeffectiveness of the latter is'gr'adually reduced. Hpwever, as the face10 of each of the shoes remains in engagement withthe face 1:4 of' thebrake drum, the shoes continue lto act as a brake to the cable drum, butin viewof /tlie decreased effectiveness ofthe spring 12, the pressureexerted by the shoes on the brake drum is naturally less'sothatthebraking eect decreases'in proportiontothe'decrease of theleverage or the decrease of the force tenidino` to rotate the cabledrum.

'Vhile =I have illustrated aparticular embodiment of my invention, as-has been stated, I contemplate various changes in'the details ofconstruction andth'erefore do not wish to be limited to the particularVembodiment shown.

`What Ivclaim is: p

1. The combination with a submarine mine anchor including a cable drum,of means for braking the cable drum with Va'decreasin'g 3. Thecombination with a submarine mine anchor including a cable drum, of abrake drum, an Iarm pivoted to the cable Ydrum spindle and 'having avariable surface contact with the brake drum, whereby Vupon the pivotalmovement of the arm the 'degree ofsaid surface contact will be varied.

4. The combination with a submarine mine anchor including'va cable drum,of a friction drum associated therewith, an arm pivoted to the'f'cabledrum spindle on an aXis transverse 'of the same and having a portionengaging the brake drum, and resilient means tending tovholdthe arm inengagement with the drum.

A5. YThe combination with a submarine mine anchor including a cabledrum, of a brake drum lstationary with relation to the cable drum,a-brake armfpivoted to the cable drum spindle on an axis 'transverselyof the latter and adapted to rotate therewith, said arm having -a shoeonthe end thereof arranged to engage a Aface vof the brake drum, theengaging faces of said shoe vand brake drum being so disposed that uponthe pivotal movement of the brake arm the shoe will move on the brakedrum, and means tending to 'maintain the shoe in contact with thefaceofthe brake drum with varying pressure.

1'6. The combination with a submarine mine anchor lincluding 'acabledrum, of a brake arm pivoted to the cable drum -spindletransversely thereofand having a shoe on its end, said shoe having oneof its faces curved transversely, the center of curvature being thepivoted point of the arm, a brake drum stationary with `respect 4to thecable drum'fhaving a circular face co-aXial with the cabledrum spindle,said face being transversely curved, theicenter of curvaturebeingthe'fpivoted point of the brake arm, and means tending to'hold thecurvedface of the shoein Iengagement vwith vthe curved face of thebrakedrum` with varying pressure.

In: testimony whereof IlaiiiX myl signature.

JAMES HUBER.

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'Wa'shingtom D. C.

